Fox Glacier
March 6th 2009
As we were winding our way down the west coast, the two main changes we noticed were the height of the mountains and the weather, although neither of these things came in properly until we were a few days further south.
After a drive through the Buller Gorge, with spectacular views and a section of road where the rock overhangs and there is only just enough room to get a bus through, we arrived at a place called Westport where we had time for a 'make your own' sandwich overlooking the beach before heading off to look for the Seal Colony. It was only about a 10 minute walk from the car park but we did it in record time to avoid the hordes of day trippers just getting off their bus as we arrived. The viewing area gave us an amazing view over the noisy colony below us including a 'training pool' full of young pups splashing and jumping around. Just to confirm our earlier 'running to beat the tour bus' action all the viewing platforms filled up, just as we were about to leave, with a mixture of American and European tourists mostly complaining about the excessive walk from the bus and the fact that the seals were too camouflaged against the rocks...
Later that day we arrived at Punakai, home of the famous Pancake Rocks. Being the good tourists we are we immediately decided that the day had been long enough and the aforementioned pancake rocks would have to wait until the morning. They had been there for millions of years so I think we were safe in leaving them another few hours. Up until this point most camp sites in New Zealand had a very relaxed attitude to camping and check out times etc. The conversation would generally go something like;
Where do we camp, 'choose any site you like'
After which we would then ask 'What time is checkout'?
and they would generally reply along the lines of 'What time do you want to leave'
The deal closer was the standard 'sweet as' line on the side of the ever friendly Kiwi.
Unfortunately Punakai must have been run by someone who, if not a foreigner to these lands, certainly spent time abroad. My guess is that they worked for the Big 4 campsite group somewhere in Australia. Anyway, we were told, in not too uncertain terms, that we must be gone by 10.00am the next day, but the best evidence I can give to support my theory is the way the dealt with an Irish couple who 'attempted' to pitch a tent next to us. They had booked a non powered site so that meant they were supposed to be in the tent area and not the camper van grassed area that we were on. After seeing the area we were on and the view over the beach they decided to see if they could move across. Now, I understand that this area was for vans but it was grass and they didn't even have a power cable so they were not looking to 'illegally steal' any electricity or anything. Even just as the office was closing and there were no other campers coming in that needed the site, the camp site managers would not allow them on to this area as the 'unpowered tents have to be in the right area'. The reason given was that if there was a fire or something they needed to know where people were but it was far too difficult to change the name on the board. Anyway, in the end the pitch next to us stayed empty and they camped where they should. The positive of this being that we got chatting to them and had a cup of tea with them in the evening and again in the morning and agreed that if we made it to Hanmer Springs later in the trip we would call in and see them.
I would possibly describe Pancake Rocks as the 'plasticine rocks', as to me they looked like layers of squashed flat plasticine rather than pancakes, but whatever the best description the layers of rock forming big pinnacles and rocky outcrops was remarkable. The tide was low so the blow holes were more 'splash holes' but I can understand the force of the water that would have been required to create them. Once again we dodged the coach parties before getting back on the road.
Ross was our next stop of note. We did stop in Greymouth but apart from it being an average town and checking emails at the i-site there was not a lot to report there. After a quick stop for a photo of the Barrytown sign (a town full of Barry's? Not sure I could handle that) we arrived at Ross. In Ross we spent about two hours with a hired shovel, a gold pan and very cold feet and managed to pan our way to the huge riches of two specks of gold and a lot of pebbles. The lady at the i-site made it look a lot easier when she gave us a gold panning lesson. I suspect the ones they use may have had gold in already?
The next stop on the way south was Franz Josef Glacier, the closet town to one of the two main west coast glaciers. As I said at the beginning of this blog, the scenery changed and the mountains had been getting bigger all the way down. Just before reaching Franz Josef we saw our first snow capped mountain. Looking back we have now seen more impressive, but being the first we stopped and took a few photos, much to the amusement of a few farmers driving past who knew what was round the corner. What was round the corner was views of incredible mountain ranges, bright blue rivers with a wide area of rocks and smaller stones either side and, on pulling in to Franz Josef, the sight of a huge glacier crawling from a valley at the top down the sides of the mountains. To say we were blown away would be an understatement. We pitched up at what appeared to be a Spaceship parking lot and went for a drink and soaked up the view.
On getting back to camp spaceship parking had turned into tour bus parking. So much in fact that we couldn't get near the kitchen and other facilities. It was about now that we decided to carry on up to the next town 'Fox Glacier' in the morning as that was reputed to be a little less busy and commercial. It's not that we don't agree with or like tour groups, it's just that we have the option to avoid them and have a more peaceful trip rather than fighting to get in places or see things, so that's what we do. If that makes us sound old and grumpy well... Bah Humbug to you, it's not like it was in my day etc etc.
It was that night that the weather turned. The rain started during the night and then didn't stop for about three days. On leaving Franz Josef you wouldn't have known there was a hill there, never mind a mountain and glacier. The cloud cover dropped lower still and arriving at Fox Glacier about 30 minutes down the road the only thing to do was to pitch up and sit it out. Unfortunately it was my birthday that day so we made the executive decision to postpone it for a day. Spaceships are great but terribly small when you spend around 24 hours solid in one.
Since we had been travelling I had a bit of money saved up to go up into the mountains in a helicopter and Fox was going to be the place to do it. With the weather being bad we booked the Heli Hike option (fly up walk round a bit and fly back) for the Sunday morning which meant another day to waste in Fox. After a wander round the three shops and even a camp site change to one nearer town, the rest of the day was again spend dodging the rain inside the ever cramped spaceship. We were a bit surprised by the air raid siren going off at one point but after asking the girl in the campsite we discovered that this was the call for the voluntary fire service and New Zealand had not just gone to war. Feeling relieved, we had a delayed birthday Pizza and got excited about the trip tomorrow.
Unfortunately the weather had other ideas and we got as far as putting our boots on and looking at a helicopter before the cloud was back and the trip was put off for another day. Determined not to waste the day we took a drive and walk up to the terminal face of Fox Glacier. If we had not already moved the heli hike I may have not bothered at this point as just walking along the valley up to the glacier was amazing. The glacier was looming in the distance with big chunks of ice from a cave collapse the day before were littering the valley floor and river edges.
We walked as close as we dare to the face and were struck by the sheer size of the thing. We also had constant reminders of the danger of being so close when we heard rumbling and a loud crash as more ice fell off. We were reading the warning signs and stayed to about 50 or 60m back but some people were standing right up in front of it. This despite the fact that three tourists were killed a couple of weeks ago doing exactly the same thing. From a distance the ice looks blue but when we held some ice that had come down the river it was completely clear. Jemma can also officially report that Fox Glacier does not tasty minty. Just as we arrived back at the Spaceship the rain started and proceeded to tip it down for the next couple of hours but for once we had timed it right.
During the two hours of rain we sat in the spaceship but unfortunately I left the lights on. We had a horrible few minutes trying and got nothing until it just managed to catch. Best thing to do was to drive it for an hour or so to charge it up so we set off for Gillespie's Beach. At this point I didn't realise that this was about 60km's round trip. I knew we were low on petrol but didn't want to stop the engine to fill up so set off anyway. By the time we got to the beach I wasn't sure we were going to get back again. The beach was a true South Island West Coast beach with large pebbles and loads of large chunks of driftwood. I would have stayed there longer but with Jemma asleep in the car with the engine still running I only stayed about 5 minutes and got a few photos. With the grand amount of no petrol showing on the gauge we set off and coasted in neutral whenever possible just arriving at the petrol station as it was about to give up. I am still not sure how we made it but the excitement took away from the disappointment of not doing the heli hike that day.
Up early the next morning I was hopeful when I saw the clear skies and sunshine. It was still not certain we would actually fly until we set off but I was quietly confident. By 9.00am, all booted and ready to go and still no clouds, we were in the air. The flight up there was only about 15 minutes long but to get so close to the glacier and see the bright blue colour coming through was fantastic. The glacier looked ten times more spectacular up close than it did from the ground. After landing we slipped about until we had our crampons attached and set off for a two and a half hour guided hike about halfway up. Apart from the two groups of about 10 people there was no one else around. Probably because the only way to get up there was in a helicopter and most people don't have one of those just waiting around for sunny days do they? We walked over crevices, through ice caves and generally had a really good explore. We were both surprisingly warm considering we were on ice and only when Jemma took a small slide down the ice, did we realise how cold and sharp it actually was. After a fantastic walk and experience it was soon time to come back down. As we crouched down and watched the helicopter land the clouds began to gather above us. I think the next group got their walk on the ice but we certainly, again, got the best of the weather. We both still can't quite believe that you are allowed to go and play on a glacier and on top of that we actually did it.
Due to the weather delays we were itching to get on the road. It was worth the waiting as we really did get the only little slice of sunshine in about 4 days, but it was time to move on. After a quick 'bring us down to earth' coffee we got back in the Spaceship and hit the road again.